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Baby Born In U-Haul As Parents Move

Amaya Lewis was born in a U-Haul truck as her parents moved from Minnesota to Chicago. (Credit: CBS)

CHICAGO (CBS) — Amaya Lewis wasn’t due to be born until March 17, but she surprised everybody.

She came into the world Tuesday morning instead, as her mom and dad and their other daughter were driving from Minnesota to their new home in Chicago.

CBS 2’s Mike Parker has the story of the “U-Haul Baby.”

Newborn Amaya Lewis weighs just under 7 pounds and she is the new joy of parents Draper and Angel Lewis.

She came into the world on a busy but darkened highway just after midnight. The family was rolling along in their rented U-Haul, headed from the Twin Cities to Chicago. They were on the outskirts of Black River Falls, Wisconsin when baby Amaya suddenly appeared in her mother’s sweat pants.

“I was crying at first,” says Draper Lewis. “I was hysterical and everything.” He says his wife told him to “stop panicking and help her.

Lewis called 911 and told the operator, “My baby. She just had the baby. She says the baby is in her pants.”

The dispatcher calmly told him how to clean the newborn, tie off the cord and make sure she was breathing. Then paramedics arrived.

At a La Crosse hospital, Lewis called his daughter, “a U-Haul baby. That should be U-Haul’s new thing. They should get a picture of my baby and put it on all the U-Haul trucks, Baby’s on Board.”

Mom and Dad also have a five year old son. He missed out on all the excitement. He was waiting for them to join him at Grandma’s house in Chicago.

Mother and baby are said to be doing fine and Draper Lewis sounds like he’s finally calmed down.